


The Making of a Voice

by valda



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 19:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2882543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The events of Cassette and slightly beyond, from Cecil's brother's perspective. There's violence at the end, but not extremely explicit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Making of a Voice

Mom loves Cecil best. It's so obvious.

The thing is, he doesn't deserve it. He doesn't appreciate it. He doesn't appreciate anything. Everything she does for him, and he just smiles his stupid smile and says "Okay, Mother." He calls her "Mother," even. Like he's disconnected. Like he's better.

He doesn't care about anything. He's just like, whatever. Except the prophecy. He's totally into that, because the prophecy is what makes him special.

I'm sure the prophecy is why Mom loves him best.

My name's not written on stone tablets down at City Hall, so I guess I'm just not worth as much. Even though I was born first.

There's this story I read once, at the library. I think it must have been a forbidden book because I asked John Peters (you know, the farmer?) about it and he'd never heard the story. But it said there were these twins, and when they were born the younger one was grasping the older one's heel. It showed that he was born jealous, wishing he was born first. It showed that he wanted to hold his brother back. The older brother should have had great blessings as the firstborn, but the younger brother tricked him into giving his birthright to him.

I asked Mom if Cecil was holding onto my heel when we were born and she said no, but she might have been lying. I never know when Mom's lying.

Sometimes she says she loves me, and I wonder if that's a lie.

~

What really gets me is that he looks exactly like me. Same hair, same nose, same eyes, everything. It's like he's an extra me. It's like one of us is irrelevant.

I was born first. He should be the irrelevant one. But he's not, somehow.

I had a weird dream last night. Everything was so bright, and it was like everything was translucent. Like I could see everything. I felt like I was supposed to like it, but I didn't. It was too much. And it was too little. It was like...there was nothing to worry about. But that didn't feel right. There's always something to worry about. I woke up worrying, and felt better.

~

He doesn't even have the right voice for radio. It's stupid. He's stupid.

~

Today's his first day as a radio intern and he is so. Stuck. Up. Sitting there at the kitchen table bragging. I was so glad to see him leave. It's so stupid. Night Vale Community Radio is stupid. Anybody could be a radio host. I could totally do it.

But no one asked me. No one wants me.

~

I had another weird dream. This time the brightness wasn't as bright. And everything was normal. There was still a City Council and a vague, yet menacing government agency and the Sheriff's Secret Police. It was just...different, somehow. They might have even had different names, I don't know. It was like a new place, a place someone had built just for me.

I liked it better than last time, and I didn't wake up right away.

Mom has covered all the mirrors. It has something to do with Cecil. Of course. I need to do something, something that will make her notice me.

~

I keep dreaming about the alternate city. The new city. The Night Vale that isn't Night Vale. It's starting to feel more like home than my actual home. Of course, that doesn't take much, since my actual home doesn't even want me. I wish I could just go to the other city and live there.

And I could be the Voice of that city, and Mom could come, and she could watch me fulfill my destiny. And she'd forget all about stupid Cecil and his stupid arrogant smile and his stupid prophecy.

~

The other city is real.

It's not far from Night Vale, actually.

Has it always been there?

I don't remember seeing it on any maps, but maps are lies anyway. Everyone knows that. The only way you can really know if a place is there is to go there.

I went there today.

I don't know how I knew where to go. I just...knew. Maybe this city has a City Hall with stone tablets with my name on them. Maybe this is the only way that city's prophecy could be fulfilled. I needed to go there.

I went there, and I found a radio station. And it is so high tech. So modern. So different from Cecil's station. So much better! It would be far more impressive to become an announcer there than at Night Vale Community Radio.

At the station, I met a man named Leopold Barton. He is the current radio host. His name seemed familiar, but I don't know why. He said I could be an intern. He told me to bring Mom for a tour.

I have to figure out how to get her to go. She keeps hiding and won't come out.

~

I lied and told Mom Cecil was in trouble. I told her she needed to come. Of course, it worked. It worked like a charm.

I hate him so much.

We are on the bus now. I'll show her the radio station. I'll tell her I'm an intern now. I'll make her see that I am just as good as Cecil. Better than Cecil. It's a city, a big city, that's like Night Vale but better. And I will be the Voice in this city. Me.

~

My name has been down on the stone tablets at City Hall for hundreds of years. When I was five years old, the prophecies were revealed that I would become the Voice of Desert Bluffs. Since then I've used my Little Reporter's Book of Big Boy Note-Taking to record all the events in this strange and wonderful city. It's very accurate.

Leopold lets me read the sports scores now. It's a great honor, and it's something I'll let my interns do someday. It's amazing sitting in that seat, the seat in front of that fancy microphone, sending my voice out to all the citizens. All you listeners. The studio is very welcoming. The blood is refreshed often. Every good studio needs fresh blood. Everyone knows that.

Sometimes I dream about the blood. The first blood. I know I could never have seen the first blood myself; it was shed when the station was first built! But somehow I can see it. It's a woman's blood, and in the dream I am the one who accepts her sacrifice.

Someone is saying that the pact won't be complete without her blood. I don't know who she is, but she seems to know me.

I use a knife. It's very sharp.

The blood goes everywhere. It is beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I didn't want to spoil who Cecil's brother was until the end, which is why I tagged it the way I did. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
